All-Time #NBArank: LeBron James tops list of best small forwards

All-Time #NBArank rolls on with the countdown of the best small forwards in NBA history.

To create All-Time #NBArank, we put together a ballot with the 150 greatest players ever. Then our ESPN expert panel voted on thousands of head-to-head matchups, with voting based on both peak performance and career value. The result is our all-time NBA Top 100.

The player
It's almost unfair to label him as a small forward, because he plays with the strength of a power forward and the ballhandling abilities of a point guard. -- J.A. Adande, ESPN.com

No weaknesses. Runs the offense as a point forward while still dropping nearly 30 points per game. The game's most powerful and effective force for a decade. -- Chris Broussard, ESPN The Magazine

The best combination of size, speed and strength in NBA history. Combine that with a basketball IQ that's off the charts and you have one of the greatest the game has ever seen. -- Rob Peterson, ESPN.com

If LeBron retired tomorrow, he'd leave as the greatest small forward in league history based on his four MVPs, and he's already among the top 10 in all-time win shares, according to Basketball-Reference.com. -- Kevin Pelton, ESPN Insider

The player
Bird was an unbelievable shooter, of course, but it was his mind that really set him apart. He anticipated what teammates and opponents alike were going to do before they themselves knew. Few players have embraced pressure moments with such relish. -- Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Insider

He could pass, shoot, rebound, lead the break and kill you as the trailer. Bird was whip-smart and demoralized the best of them with or without the rock in his hands. -- Peterson

How dominant was Bird's peak? In 1984-85 and 1985-86, Bird received a combined 146 of a possible 156 first-place MVP votes. That's the largest percentage of first-place votes that any player has ever had over any two-year span. -- Micah Adams, ESPN Stats & Info

He had the full array of skills and was the NBA's top 3-point threat in his day; it makes you wonder how he'd use that weapon in this era. -- Adande

The player
Dr. J is the father of the modern NBA, the one who took the game off the floor and made it an airborne league. If you add his ABA stats, he's a top-six scorer in the history of the sport. -- Adande

A cultural icon. Not the first to dunk, but unquestionably the "Godfather of the Jam." Outstanding one-on-one talent who was also a total team player. -- Broussard

Dr. J's up-and-under layup from behind the backboard while palming the ball remains one of the most recognizable plays in league history. He did things that nobody before him ever did on a basketball court. -- Adams

The word "mystique" should have been invented for Dr. J. His game is as indelible as anyone's. -- Doolittle

The player
Hondo was a star sixth man before anyone thought of giving out an award for such things, and was part of most of those Celtics titles in the '60s. Then he was the best player on a whole different group of championship-winning Boston teams in the '70s. That's pretty good. -- Doolittle

A model of consistent excellence and an eight-time NBA champion, Hondo did a little bit of everything for the Celtics, whether it was coming off the bench earlier in his career or wining the '74 Finals MVP. -- Peterson

He often gets overlooked when discussing the game's greatest scorers. Only a handful of players in his era scored more points than he did, and they're all single-name guys: Wilt, Kareem, Moses, Elvin and Oscar. -- Adande

It's Havlicek -- not Bird, Cousy, or Russell -- who holds career records for games played and points scored in a Celtics uniform. -- Adams

The player
One of the greatest, most skilled perimeter talents the game has seen, Barry could do it all offensively. He's the most underrated superstar in basketball history. -- Broussard

Barry led the NBA in scoring in 1967 with the highest per-game average (35.8) ever by someone not named Chamberlain or Jordan. As symbolized by his underhanded free throw style, he used whatever method he could to win. -- Peterson

Barry was not just an ace shooter who shot granny-style free throws. He was a unique and dominant all-around player who made his mark in two leagues. When the NBA adopted the 3-point line for his last season, Barry was among the first to exploit the new rule. -- Doolittle

He helped expand the concept of shooting range for small forwards. -- Adande

The player
Worthy had the speed to beat his opponents down the floor, and the quick moves to beat them in the low post. He was the Finals MVP on the last of the Showtime championship teams. -- Adande

He ran the floor better than anyone for the Showtime Lakers, could knock down open jumpers and was a great post player with a spin move that made him look like the Tasmanian Devil. -- Doolittle

Efficient and smooth, Big Game James never shot worse than 53 percent in a season during the first eight years of his career. -- Peterson

Worthy is the author of perhaps the best championship-clinching performance in a Game 7 in NBA history, delivering 36 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists to knock off the Pistons in a 3-point win in 1988. -- Adams